Scientists have caught a odd signal from deep space

Canada's brand-new CHIME telescope just picked up a mysterious radio signal from deep space and astronomers are puzzling over what or who could have sent it, reports the International Business Times.

CHIME detected the FRB 180725A, followed by radio signals at much lower frequencies at 400 kHz, which are confirmed not to have originated anywhere on Earth but owe their origin somewhere in the celestial universe. Fast radio bursts are not uncommon, but are considered special because no one knows what their sources are. The signal lasted for only fractions of a second, but he was recognized by radio waves with the lowest frequency ever recorded by scientists.

This most recent one, named FRB 180725A, is notable because of its low frequency of 580 megahertz.

Patrick Boyle, of McGill University, first reported the detection of the FRB with a post on the astronomical publication Astronomer's Telegram. In a diagram measuring the radio frequency over time, there is a clear bright streak beginning below 600 MHz.

The question that remains is uncovering where these signals have come from, with many possible theories being thrown into the mix. "These events have occurred during both the day and night and their arrival times are not correlated with known on-site activities or other known sources of terrestrial RFI [radio-frequency interference]". FRBs are milliseconds-long bursts of radio emissions. Beyond the visible spectrum, space is a colorful mess of radio signals and microwaves fired off by flaring "suns", collapsing stars, crackling magnetic fields, roiling dust clouds and seething black holes.

"They could be caused by exploding stars, supernova, exotic stars like pulsars, magnetars, neutron stars or massive black holes at the center of distant galaxies".

FRB are very rare, because experts are still trying to explain their origin, not excluding the possibility of explosion of a black hole or echo developed extraterrestrial civilizations. "It could even be some other physical mechanism that we don't yet understand".

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